The present invention relates to laser shooting simulation, and more particularly, the invention relates to a device for the evaluation of a target sighting by means of a laser assisted sighting device during the simulation of shooting with sight-controlled missiles.
Laser sighting devices having a laser transmitter to transmit laser signals, a laser receiver for receiving reflected laser light reflected from a target, a device to determine the angle misalignment between the laser signals and the line-of-sight of the sighting unit, and an evaluation device for the angle misalignments are well known. For example, the device disclosed in German Pat. No. 2,846,962 discloses a laser transmitter that is rigidly coupled with the sighting device where the transmitter must be adjusted in a precise and permanent manner with respect to the line-of-sight. Frequently, there are difficulties in arranging the error compensating control system (laser transmitter and receiver) of the shooting simulation device in this precise and permanent manner, with an optical axis parallel to the line-of-sight of the sighting device. This is especially true in the case of sighting devices which form a part of a weapon's guidance system for a tank.
The weapon's guidance system of a tank includes a periscopic aiming device with rotatable reflectors for at least providing vertical deflection (corner reflectors, etc.) of the area viewed by the aiming device. In such a case, an external, rigid coupling of the laser transmitter is not possible, at least with respect to the vertical movements of the sighting device. Further, the integration of the laser beam into the line-of-sight of the periscopic aiming device is frequently prohibitive because of cost considerations, and furthermore, it becomes impossible to use the shooting simulation device with aiming sights of a different construction without changing the manner in which the laser beam is integrated into the beam path of the periscopic aiming device. Other physical reasons, e.g., lack of agreement between the wavelength of the laser signals transmitted by the laser transmitter in the optical pass range of the aiming devive, can also make the introduction of the laser beam into the sighting device impossible.
In German Pat. 2,008,986, a shooting simulation device for sight-controlled missiles is disclosed in which a laser transmitter tracks the movements of the sighting device by means of servomotors. By means of special simulation signal generators, deviations between the alignment of the laser transmitters and the sighting device can be produced corresponding to the dynamic guided behavior of a missile in flight. A light source connected with the laser transmitter inserts into the sighting device a light beam (seen in the sighting device as a point of light) which reproduces the optical impression of the guided missile. However, the position of this light beam is not used for the evaluation of the shot. The tracking device needed with the device of German Pat. No. 2,008,986 for the laser transmitter cannot, in principal, operate with the accuracy of an inertial platform required for an exact shot evaluation. Basically, for a shot evaluation, a measurement accuracy of less than 0.15 mrad is required from such a shooting simulation device whereas tracking devices which can be obtained on the market operate at best with accuracies of .+-.2 mrad.
Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a device for evaluating the sighting of a target with reference to the line-of-sight axis of a sighting device where all the data required to evaluate the shooting simulation is obtained with a comparatively low expenditure and with high precision. It would also be advantageous to provide a shooting simulation evaluation without requiring a rigid axis-parallel coupling and an adjustment of the laser transmitter to the sighting device or an optical integration of the laser transmitter into the beam path of the sighting device or an exact tracking of the laser transmitter into the line-of-sight.